Studio Warner Bros has already been forced to settle with a tattoo artist who said comedy blockbuster The Hangover Part II stole his design, along with a stuntman who claimed he suffered brain trauma during a stunt gone wrong. Now it has gone to court to fend off claims from the fashion house Louis Vuitton that the sequel to Todd Phillips's 2009 sleeper hit, about a group of friends who travel to Thailand for a highly eventful stag do, created consumer confusion by depicting a counterfeit handbag branded a "Lewis Vuitton".

Warner representatives last week told a New York federal court that its use of a fake bag made by the Chinese-American company Diophy, which Louis Vuitton is also suing, was justified by a 1989 US court decision in which Hollywood star Ginger Rogers was denied compensation over a film about two fictional Italian cabaret performers who recreated her routines with Fred Astaire for comedy effect.

The offending bag appears in a scene from last year's The Hangover II, which features a stag do in Bangkok, riffing off the capital's widespread counterfeit culture. Zach Galifianakis's Alan is roughly handed the item, and responds: "Be careful, that is … that is a Lewis Vuitton." Warner says the earlier case over the film Ginger and Fred, which the court ruled was "an exercise of artistic expression rather than commercial speech", gives it protection against the Louis Vuitton suit, and adds that the fashion house is misinterpreting trademark law.

"The issue is the freedom of the author to incorporate references to real life – including references to trademarks and even to counterfeit goods – in creating the expressive work," Warners' lawyers said in a motion to dismiss. "The ownership of a trademark confers many rights but not the right to alter or veto such creative expression."

Other suits to hit The Hangover Part II include one from tattoo artist S Victor Whitmill, who created the original Maori-inspired tattoo for Mike Tyson that was reproduced in a scene in which Stu (Ed Helms) wakes up after a night of drunken debauchery to discover he has an identical design on his face. The studio later said it would digitally alter the design for the DVD release, but this was avoided after they settled with Whitmill for an undisclosed amount.

In October, producers also faced a plagiarism suit from screenwriter Michael Alan Rubin, who said The Hangover Part II was based on his idea for a comedy in which the main character travels from America to Asia to wed his girlfriend. It was later dismissed. The studio also settled with stuntman Scott McLean, who claimed he suffered brain trauma during a stunt gone wrong.

Louis Vuitton is asking for compensation over the use of the "Lewis Vuitton" bag in The Hangover II, which grossed £367m and is the most successful R-rated comedy of all time at the global box office. The case continues.